Tool for applying closures to paper bottles.



F. N. &'w. c. was.

TOOI; FOR APPLYING CLOSURES T0 PAPER BOTTLES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 4, 19.14..

Patented Oct. 3, 1916.

WITNESSES: C. M

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.- FRANK n. WEIS AND. WILLI M c. WEIS, am ut tion, ASSIGNOR 'ro Inn wars-van womnnn COMPANY, 01 MONROE, -MICHIGAN, A conroaa'rron.

'.rooL FOB, L mme CLOSUBES EEO-PAPER BOTTLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 4,1914. Serial No. 842,830. j r Y To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK N. WEIS and WILLIAM 0. Wins, citizens of the United States, residing at Monroe, in the .county of Monroe and State of Michigan,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tools for Applying Closures to .Paper Bottles; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, refersuch package substantially air-tight, the

closure being applied in' such manner that it can not be removed without either de-' stroying the stopper or rupturing the pack-- age in such manner as to prevent the im-x proper. re-use of the package.- The closure consists of acup-shaped piece of stout aper the body of which fits into the mouth of the bottle, and having a flange which overlaps the outer margin of the mouth of the bottle. The present invention is designed to furnish a tool for expanding that portion of the cup-shaped stopper which projects into the bottle so that the stopper can not be withdrawn without rupturing the mouth of the bottle, and at the same time pressing the flange of the stopper onto the margin of the mouth of the bottle so that the meeting portions of the bottle and stopper form a practically liquid-tight joint.

To this end our inventlon consists of the devices, construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, and shown'and illustrated in the accompanying drawmgs, in which Figure 1, is aside-elevation of our tool,

partly in central vertical section, showing the flange expanding-fingers and spreading-plunger in position to enter the cavlty 'of the stopper hereinafter described; Fig.

2, a top-plan-view of our implement; Fig, 3, a central vertical sectional elevation, of a portion of our tool with the spreadingplunger retracted and with the expandingfingers spread apart; Fig. 4, a view of one of the expanding-fingers hereinafter referred to, detached; Fig. 5, a top-plan-view of a spring hereinafter referred to, and Fig. .6, a central vertical sectional elevation of a stopper,detached and unexpanded,- of the sort upon which our tool is intended to be employed. a

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

In the drawings, 1 and 2 are a pair, of handles adapted to be conveniently grasped in one hand, pivoted together near" their forward end, as at 3, upon a lug 4 formed upon the lower handle 1. These two handles are held normally separated at their.

rear ends by an interposed coiled spring 5. At the forward end of the handle 2 is pivoted, as at 6, the upper end of a plunger 7 having at its lower end an outwardly flared portion 8. In an opening through the handle 1,between the lug 4 and its for-- ward end, is secured, by means of a setscrew 9, a piece 10 haying fomied thereon a collar 11 which abuts upwardly against the under side of the handle 1, and having also a collar 12 of less diameter than the collar 11, there being between the two collars an annular recess 13.

14 is a sleeve having therethrough a cylindrical bore the top of which embraces and tightly fits the shoulder 11. *In the bottom edge of the member 14 is a groove 15, angular in cross-section, designed to receive With a snug fit the outer angle 16 of the side and flange of the bottle-stopper 17.

1818 are pieces which may be regardedas longitudinal segments of a cylinder. These are located in the annular space between the plunger 7 and the sleeve 14. The

; inner sides of the parts 18 are notched near their upper ends, as at 19, to form hooklike projecting portions 20 which engage the annular space 13 in themember 11. The parts 18 which we call fingers and which may be of any desired number,in .the present instance four,.-are 'by means of the hook-like portions 20 thus suspended in the annular space surrounding "the plunger 7 there being roomfor slight radial swing of the fingers at their lower ends. At their lower inner edges the fin-' gers 18 are beveled to fit against and correspond to the flaring surface 8 of the plunger 7. The outer edges of the 'fingers' 18 are correspondingly notched as at 21 to form a Patented Oct. 3, 1916.

. ble of mutual relative'movement', a sleeve circumferential groove around the sever al fingers, in which groove is disposed a ring 22 forming a spring which holds the lower ends of the several fingers normally pressed inwardly against the inclined sides of the ing upon the top of the bottle, the handles 12 being separated, as in Fig. 1, the flange formed by the projecting parts 23 of the fingers 18, and which snugly fits the cavity of the stopper, is pressed down into the cuplike interior of the stopper. Now the handle 2 is pressed down onto the handle 1, forcing the plunger 7 upwardly and by the wedge-like action of the parts 8 uponthe beveled inner edges of the pieces 18 forcing them asunder so that the spreading flangeparts 23 expand the walls of the stopper within the bottle. At the same time the angular recess 15 takes the flange of the' stopper .and the foot of the sleeve 11 presses down upon the top of the flange of the stopper which is thus squeezed between the bottom of the sleeve and the top ofthe flange-parts 23. The stopper is now so expanded and shaped that it conforms to the hole in the bottle and to the top of the bottle and forms a practically liquid-tight closure. When the handle 2 is released it is forced away from the handle 1 by the spring 5, thus restoring the parts to their positions indicated in Fig. 1 and freeing the bottle from the tool.

Having described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s.

1. In a device of the described character, a pair of pivotally connceted handles capable of mutual relative nioyement, a sleeve mounted upon and movable with one of the handles, a plunger in said sleeve, connected to and movable with the other handle, said plunger having at its outer end a flaring surface, and a plurality of fingers disposed in the annular space between the plunger and the sleeve and contacting with said flaring surface, said fingers having at their outer ends radially projecting flange portions in operative relation to the outer end of-the sleeve.

2. In a device of the described character, a pair of pivotally connected handles capamounted upon and movable with one of the handles, a plunger in said sleeve, connected 1 to and movable with the other handle, said plunger having at its outer end a flaring surface, a plurality of fingers disposed in the annular space between the plunger and the sleeve and contacting with said flaring surface, said fingers having at their outer ends radially projecting flange portions in operative relation to the outer end of the sleeve, means for holding the hand portions of said handles normally separated, and means for holding said flange portions nor-. mally radially retracted.

3. In a device of the described character, a pair of pivotally connected handles, a sleeve carried by one of said handles and having .a grooved lower edge, a series of sleeve, means actuated by the other of said handles for radially projecting said flangeportions and a spring which holds said flange-portions normally retracted.

4. In a device of the described character, a pair of pivotally connected handles capable of mutual relative movement, a sleeve mounted upon and movable with one of the handles, a plunger in said sleeve, connected to and movable with the other handle, said plunger having at its outer end a flaring surface, and a plurality of fingers disposed in the annular space between the plunger and the sleeve and contacting with said flaring surface, said fingers having at their outer ends radially projecting flange portions in operative relation to the outer end of the sleeve. a

5. In a device of the described character,

a pair of pivotally connected handles capable of mutual relative movement, a sleeve mounted upon and movable with one of the handles, a plunger in said sleeve, connected to and movable with the other handle, said F. L. HAYES, WALTER E. VF- s. 

